In the Open
by sammy55
Summary: Inspired by the 5x09 promo. A conversation that has been waiting to happen, one we have all been waiting for. Damon and Caroline finally have the chance to clear the air when Caroline and Elena go on a rescue mission.


**So I'm back again. First foray into fan fiction in years. I left a note on my profile for anyone wanting to know what's up with my other stories. **

**But this was something that I have been waiting for since… probably season 2 or 3. Still hasn't happened, and I'm not exactly expecting the show to deliver anytime soon. As much as I love the show, it sometimes has a habit of ignoring plotlines for weeks at a time. **

**Inspired by 5x07 and the 5x08 promo. The style is a lot different than my usual, but I am really liking how it turned out.**

They left him to sit in the cell for a day or so, slowly being driven mad by his own mind, the flashbacks, the lingering smell of those previously here. He could smell their terror, see the faint stains of their blood splashed upon the rock wall when they were carelessly thrown in here after being tortured.

A few times his mind had drifted and he wondered what Elena was, what she was doing. He wondered what she thought when he never showed up after the party. He wondered if she was disappointed in him, if she just shrugged it off or if she worried. He hoped she was okay, hoped she would eventually move on.

He had made it out of here alive once, he wasn't expecting to again.

They left him to sit there and try not to imagine the torture that was waiting for him in the morning. It had been nearly 60 years since he had escaped and there wasn't a doubt in his mind that they were resentful of his escape. They liked to believe that because the all powerful vampire was weak before them, they were once again at the top of the food chain. They would want revenge for his betrayal.

But he tried not to think about that. He tried not to think about anything. He was looking within his own mind, desperately trying to find the switch, trying to turn off the fear, the misery.

But it was no longer there.

She slammed the door as they entered the dorm room and flopped down on her bed. Elena was driving her nuts, constantly worried about Damon. He hadn't shown up at the party and wasn't returning any of her calls. Plus, Professor Wes had been seen the next day, speaking to another student.

And yet Damon was nowhere to be found.

She didn't know what the fuss was about. Damon was a sociopathic killer, and he had been denied his victim the night before. He was probably out killing some innocent girl.

Of course she didn't say this to Elena. She could barely look at Damon with the slightest hint of anger without getting a pleading look from Elena. If she told Elena what she really thought of Damon, she wasn't sure if Elena would cry or stake her in her sleep.

But that certainly didn't stop her from thinking the truth. And the truth was, she couldn't stand Damon.

It went deeper than his flippant attitude towards death and destruction, his ability to revel in his darker side, his corruption of Elena. If she was truthful, the only reason she truly hated Damon was because of what he had done to her. It wasn't even the fact that he had done it. She had seen how Elena was with no humanity and if she could forgive Elena for almost killing her mom and herself, she could certainly forgive Damon for doing what he did.

But he never apologized. And that pissed her off more than anything else.

She deserved an apology damn it. She was worth more than a half-assed brush off. It didn't matter how many times she proved herself, how many times they had worked together to save someone. He never fucking apologized.

She hated him.

He tried to curl in on himself, cursing weakly when he realized his ribs were broken. He fought to lift his hand, accidently bumping his still bleeding palm and leaving a bloody smear on the ground, adding to those already washed away. Pushing himself up on his elbow, he managed to hold still long enough to push one of his ribs back into place, letting out a sob when it clicked into place.

He glanced up at the wall, his own initials mocking him. D.S. He idly wondered if they had done that when he arrived or if it had always been here, holding others temporarily, waiting for him to return to this hell.

He could barely remember what had happened after they came for him. It was a blur of broken bones, scalpel slices, cold detached hands prodding all over his body, lingering on any spot that made him flinch. The pain could've lasted for a hour, a day, a year. The lighting never changed, people came and went, but the pain never went away.

He had searched desperately for the switch, wanting to be rid of the overwhelming fear of this place, the loneliness he felt when images of his loved ones flashed before his eyes, distracting him momentarily from the pain. But the damn switch had disappeared on him. He remembered what Rose said, the switch was temporary.

Inconvenient fucking time to expire. Obviously the universe was punishing him for any happiness he had felt while Stefan was trapped. As if his own guilt wasn't eating him alive.

He always seemed to leave when Stefan needed him the most. He left in 1864 when Stefan was just growing into his Ripper tendencies. He had left in 1912, leaving Stefan behind with the body of the woman he had just ripped apart. When he came back in 1942, the first blonde bitch had convinced him to let Stefan go, allow Stefan to think that his brother had abandoned him once again. And now, Stefan was barely hanging on to his sanity, and he was once again unable to be there.

But none of that mattered anymore. He could barely handle his own pain, he couldn't continue to think about all of the reasons he had to be guilty.

Struggling to sit up, he let out a low string of breathless curses when he discovered that he was too weak to push himself up. He carefully rolled himself to the side so he could look out through his cell bars. They looked like regular metal; obviously anything held inside were too weak to try anything. He looked at the cells across from him. Only one cell looked occupied, though he could only see an indistinct lump on the floor.

He opened his mouth to yell, but all that came out was a hoarse cough. Swallowing he tried again, asking if they could hear him. The shape moved, but only became smaller. He figured the thing wanted to be left alone and decided not to add to its misery by shouting.

He rolled over, instinctively putting his arm out for Elena, only to drop it into the dirt when his mind caught up with his body. He sighed heavily and decided that sleep would be the best thing for now. At least in sleep, he could pretend to be happy.

She stood outside the warehouse, silently cursing Elena for dragging her here. She wasn't cut out for this skulking around in the dark like a… well like a vampire. She wanted to be a normal college girl for once, but Elena had insisted that someone come with her, safety in numbers and all that. Stefan was hardly an option, he was barely holding it together and Bonnie was never Damon's biggest fan.

So it fell to her once more. She had never been good at saying no to Elena and Elena's hold over her had not diminished with vampirism. Elena just needed to look at her with those brown Bambi eyes, tear up a bit, and she got her way. Of course, Elena never purposely used this. She was never that girl to fake tears to get the dress she wanted or get to out of a grounding. But it didn't matter. When Elena asked, she answered. And a week after Damon's disappearance, she was standing in the middle a stupid forest at midnight, about to break into to what was apparently a top secret lab for torturing vampires.

Right.

Huffing angrily, she shoved her hands deeper into her jacket and listened for Elena's return. Elena had left to look for the a back entrance, hoping to avoid any guards. Considering that this was a place designed to hold vampires, it was doubtful that any compulsion would work, not to mention the possibility of weapons inside. The longer they remained undetected, the better it would be.

A twig snapped to her left and she turned, her fangs coming out in a warning hiss. Elena walked out between the trees with her hands held out. "Calm down. It's just me. There is a door over on the left side of the building with no one around it. It doesn't look like there are any cameras, but I can't tell what we will be facing on the inside. First person to see Damon gets him out of there. Ready?"

She wanted to scream at Elena, wanted to shake some sense into this idiotic, suicidal plan of hers. But she wasn't stupid, she saw the glint in her brown eyes. Elena was getting Damon out, with or without help.

So she just nodded.

He wanted to hide, bring his arms up to protect his face. He felt like a child again, hiding from the monster in the closet. But he couldn't hide anymore. They had strapped his arms down when he began to thrash, adding insult to injury when his movements were kitten weak anyways.

The doctor leaned over him, his face twisted in a perverse pleasure at the thought of what was about to happen. He held up a syringe filled with a clear liquid. "I suppose I should thank you for escaping the first time Mr. Salvatore. With our favorite test subject gone, the remaining doctors here took great pleasure in creating a suitable punishment for you. When I took over, I… refined it a bit."

The doctor looked up and down his body, searching for the perfect place. Gathering up his remaining strength, he managed to bite out "Just do it already." He probably should have kept his mouth shut, but his pride wouldn't let him stay silent.

The doctor chuckled, "Still full of fire I see. I suppose it's only fitting." Doctor Creepy smiled down at him and jabbed the syringe into his arm, still laughing quietly.

There was a pause and he relaxed, thinking that nothing was going to happen, that this torture was just an elaborate prank. And then…

"Aggggghhh!" He jerked in his restraints, twisting and turning, screaming and clawing at the metal table. "Please, please, please!"

Fire traveled from his arm and throughout his body, boiling lava replacing his blood, tendrils of ivy winding through his body and stabbing his insides, trying to tear them apart and rip them out of him.

The doctor stood silently by the side, taking a few notes. "Concentrated vervain. Thousands of times stronger than anything naturally on this earth. Glad to see it works."

He wanted to curse, wanted to reach over and grab the smug doctors heart and rip it from his chest, watch the light leave the bastards eyes.

But all he could do was scream.

Elena's head jerked up, hearing something in the distance. "Damon!" She took off down the hallway without warning.

She stood for a moment in shock, then took off down the hallway in pursuit. She may not like this rescue mission, but she sure as hell wasn't going to let Elena die down there.

She turned around a corner and stopped, staring in shock at the scene before her. A doctor was lying slumped over in a pool of blood, a hole in his chest. Elena was tearing at the restraints that held a screaming, sobbing Damon down.

Elena looked up, tears running down her face. "Help me, please! I can't tear them off myself." Damon let out a long yell, his back arching off the table.

She rushed over and grabbed the other side of the restraint, helping to tear them off. Damon's form slumped over in Elena's arms. "Please, blood, I can't," he trailed off as his body contorted, almost looking like Tyler when he turned.

Elena looked at her. "Get him out of here while I look for some blood." Damon was passed over to her arms. She opened her mouth, but her protest died in her throat. The manic glint in Elena's eyes hadn't faded. Elena wanted to kill, wanted to tear things apart and she was going to wipe out every living thing in this warehouse of horrors.

So she just nodded instead. She turned, dragging a still thrashing Damon along with her. At least he had stopped screaming, hopefully she wouldn't have to fight her way out.

He internally wondered if he was dreaming. Elena had appeared in front of him like an avenging angel, ripping out the doctor's heart for him. Now Blondie, who had never liked him, was dragging him to freedom. He reached out a hand, wanting to hold Elena, but they turned around a corner and he lost sight of her. He let his hand fall back to the ground.

Blondie… Caroline eventually hauled him outside and let him slump against the wall. "Sit. Stay." She smirked with a little too much enjoyment on her face. He sighed and looked away, letting out a shout when the fire ripped through his body again.

She looked down at him, and silently cursed herself. He just looked so pathetic and broken and she had always had a soft spot for broken things. She huffed and sat down on the ground next to him, gathering him up in her arms and laying his head on her shoulder. "It's alright, Elena is finding some blood for you. It's okay."

He stiffened for a moment before sinking into her side, nearly crying at the friendly touch. "Why," he managed to rasp out before stopping to cough.

She looked down at him. "What?"

"Why are you being nice to me? You have more reasons to hate me than anyone else after what I've done to you. So why? Why even bother helping Elena?" His breathing was labored after he finished talking, his breathing forcing the flames throughout his body again. He tried to subtly wipe his eyes, and cursed when his tears left a wet spot on Caroline's shirt. So much for his badass pride.

She stayed silent for a long time, and considered not speaking at all. But she wanted this. Wanted to get this off of her chest. "I hate you Damon. But Elena is my best friend and she loves you. You make her happy. I wasn't about to let her go and get herself killed without any back up. Plus you're not very threatening right now, snotting up my shirt. You're going to buy me a new one."

He let out a weak laugh. "You've gotten stronger Blondie. Been hanging out with me too much." He paused. "I'm sorry."

She let out a sarcastic laugh, "The great Damon Salvatore apologizes? Alert the media."

He pushed himself up, letting out a hoarse cry when the flames licked at him again. "I'm serious Caroline. I'm sorry for what I did to you when I first met you. It was wrong. What I did to you, compelling you, feeding off of you, using you. It was wrong. I apologize." He glanced her face, seeing the shock play across it, and looked away. He supposed he deserved that.

She sat back, letting Damon fall against the wall. She almost felt bad when he winced in pain, but managed to ignore it. She didn't know what to say. She wasn't the type of person to hold a grudge, she always forgave Elena the moment an apology crossed her lips. How many second chances had she already given Tyler?

But this was different. Tyler may have been a raging asshole at times, but he had never abused her, never force her to forget what he did to her. The rush of memories when she had become a vampire had shocked her. He had been using her for weeks and she never knew. When she remembered, the rage and the hurt had battled inside of her. She wanted to kill him, but he was so much older than she was. She wouldn't be able to get anywhere close to him.

So she did the next best thing. Avoided him at all cost and tried to show Elena who she was really dating. Tried to bring out the monster inside of him in front of Elena. But it never worked. No matter what was going on, Damon never once took it out on Elena. Never lied to her, never did a damn thing she didn't want him to do.

He fought to bring her back when she shut off her humanity, did anything it took to get her back. Never held anything against her, suffered in silence while she doted over Stefan, before and after they started dating. Was willing to lose her forever to give her the cure she had wanted.

The demon that had abused her was a complete sap with Elena.

She stood up, looking down on him. "I deserved that apology months ago Damon. I deserved that apology when your humanity came back. I didn't deserve to watch you dote over Elena while making comments about me. I can't forgive you Damon. You had months to apologize and you never did."

He nodded. He deserved that. But she wasn't done. "But I've seen how you are with Elena. Patient and kind. You love her and you love your brother. You even care for Jeremy to a point. So I can't forgive you. Not today. You haven't earned it. But… Maybe someday. We have forever after all. I don't have any friends other than you guys. It would suck if we were fighting for an eternity." She smiled down at him, still fighting off the pain of the vervain and weak.

He grinned back at her, happy for the chance. She and Elena were friends. She was someone that Elena cared about, therefore, she was someone that he cared about, someone to protect. Now he had the chance to make things better.

The door smashed open and they turned to look. Elena walked out, covered in blood and dragging a limp body with her. She threw it in front of Damon. "Vervain free. Drink up."

Damon wasted no time, immediately digging his fangs into the guys neck. Caroline dusted herself off and looked towards Elena. "Well we got your boy toy. Can we get out of this place now? It's still giving me the serious creeps."

Elena nodded and they both turned to help a still weak Damon off of the ground and into the surrounding woods. Until they hit civilization again, some bunnies would have to do for now.

**So what did you think? Drop a review and let me know please. If you want to see more, follow me. I plan on posting at least two or three more one-shots in the near future. **

**Thanks for reading! I did read over this a couple times and fixed some things, but if you notice anything odd, feel free to leave it in a review so I can fix it. **


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